Discussions
by Elledreamer
Summary: Written for be-nice-to-nerds' 'Discovery' challenge on the AF forum. Alpha Force's parents find out about what they do.
1. Alex

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may recognise. This applies to all chapters of this fic.  
**

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Alex

It was early evening. The sun was gradually dipping below the horizon creating a startlingly pink and orange blush of colour. The low trill of the birds' evening chorus lulled gently across the village and surrounding hills and a faint breeze gently swept through the grass refreshing the air calmly. Alex was sat against the dry stonewall at the top of the field next to his house. Below him, he could see the whole of the village, including the green and the local pub, seemingly alive with customers and friendly banter judging by the lights on in the windows.

It was one of his favourite places in the world. Alex couldn't count the number of times he had retreated up to the silence of this vantage point. Either as an opportunity to get out of the house, away from his parents, or just to get a chance to properly reflect. It was the latter that had brought Alex up this time. That, and a need to refresh his head and feel the wind on his face after a day cooped up working in the supermarket in the nearby town. A small part-time and short-term job had turned into somewhat of a nightmare for Alex as he had never really managed to grasp the ideal gist of what was involved in supermarket work and the only thing keeping him in it was the money he was sure he would soon need for Alpha Forces' next pursuit. It was his birthday soon, and Alex had wanted to do something special, but the majority of Alpha Force were busy as it was during term time, although Alex had arranged for Hex to come and come camping with him for a weekend, as the Londoner hadn't got far to travel. Compared to the rest of Alpha Force anyway. Li was currently in China, whilst her parents visited a zoo there to look at some pandas. She, Amber and Paulo had all despaired at not being able to visit Alex for his birthday, especially because it was a special one, but all had promised with much zest that as soon as they all had some time off they would get together to celebrate.

Alex felt a disturbance beside him, but only looked up when their shadow caused him to shiver, despite the three layers he was wearing in the cold January air.

It was his father, and surprisingly Alex noticed, his mother several yards behind. Alex frowned. Both his parents loved the outdoors, but rarely ventured out in the evenings due to work, and, even stranger, was the fact they had seemed to come to find him. He frowned at them both as they settled down in the grass next to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked glancing from his father to his mother attempting to work out the reason for this strange behaviour. His father was staring intently at Alex as if trying to see something he had not before, and his mother was avoiding his gaze, her eyebrows knitted in worry. "What's wrong?" Alex repeated himself. Something had definitely happened. He was beginning to get a little worried…

Alex's dad sighed to himself as he tried to find the right words to begin.

"Alex we just received a phone call, from a lady in London." Alex frowned. As far as he knew his parents didn't know any ladies in London. Sure his dad had a few workmates living there, and some of those were women but he couldn't work out why he'd need to know about it. His father continued "A lady who says you know her son". Alex frowned again. For several moments he couldn't for the life of him work out the relevance before it slowly hit him.

"Hex" he murmured, still deep into his thoughts as to the reason for this phone call.

"Yes Hex" his mum said gently "And Amber, and Li and Paulo?" Alex frowned up at his parents.

"But you know about them." He said, even more puzzled "You know them, you've met them before, they're my best friends".

"Alex" his mother began. But her voice strained. Alex's dad placed his arm on hers and looked across at his son.

"Alex, we knew about your friends, but we didn't know the full extent of what you did with them. What Hex's mum told us" he paused as if searching for the right words "She found out what it is you really do. About Alpha Force".

Alex felt himself turn cold, despite his three layers. This was the one thing that all of them had sworn against, never to tell their parents, and now this had happened… He looked up at his parents.

"How did Hex's mum find out?". Alex's mum starred up to the sky and Alex thought he saw a flash of irritation spread across her face, but it had faded as soon as he noticed. Alex's dad answered.

"She found a few documents on his computer. Details of these _missions_. Alex, we don't want you to get into any trouble."

Despite this confrontation by his parents, Alex felt a thud of happiness and loyalty, realising what he suspected all along was true, that Hex hadn't told his mum through choice. He felt his mother staring at him and turned to face her.

"Mum, that's what we do. What we do as Alpha Force". His mum pushed her hair back and sighed. Alex's dad had become suddenly quiet.

"But Alex" she said, "I heard some of the details of these things that you do, and they're so dangerous" Alex began to speak but his mum continued, "I remember when your father and I got news of what had happened on the Phoenix. We were so scared. I was so scared. Alex it killed me thinking of what might have happened to you. I was so relieved when they found you, and then you kept going off with your friends. You came home with your arm in a sling twice Alex! Accidents I'm sure were connected to these missions." She stopped and looked up at the horizon for several seconds before continuing, this time in a much softer voice. "You know Alex, what you're doing with your friends is brilliant, I really think it is but it scares me so much. I can't imagine anything happening to you. It would be a nightmare." Her voice broke off and she looked across at her son.

Alex didn't know what to say. He felt he should apologise, but somehow it didn't seem right. Instead he stood up, stepped round his still silent dad and sat back down again next to his mum, wrapping his arms around her.

"I love what I do with Alpha Force mum. It's given me so much. Something to fight for, four brilliant friends and the best education I could get." He looked up into her face. "I know that sometimes it's dangerous, but we accept that and it's something I could never give up because it's a part of me now".

His mum was faintly smiling as she looked back at Alex. "I know" she said softly "That's why we're completely prepared to let you carry this on Alex. Because we've seen how it's changed you, and it's brilliant to see." She rubbed his back cheerily "Just be careful ok? Please?" Alex nodded, meaning it completely. "Good" smiled his mum "I'm going to go and get tea sorted. Before I freeze" Alex smiled as his mum got up and headed back down to the house.

Alex stayed where he was for several seconds before he realised his dad was still behind him. As he turned his dad was already standing up and walking straight past him, down the hill after his mum. Alex frowned.

"Dad?" His dad halted and turned. Alex couldn't read the expression on his face. There was a short silence wrapped in steeliness before a small smile crept up on his dad's face.

"We're proud of Alex. Really proud. Remember that". Alex sat taking what his dad had just said in before nodding, a smile slipping onto his face. His dad offered a short, half smile in return before turning back down the hill back towards the house.

Alex looked back out across the village. It was much quieter now as dusk settled in. There was an air of difference settled in the air now, a fresh feel of change. Alex took one last look at the pink sliver of sun before getting up to follow his parents. As he walked slowly down the hill, he stared up at the sky, and smiled.

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**A/N: This fic was written for be-nice-to-nerd's 'Discovery' challenge. Thank you to my beta, spinkle22 - Elle xx  
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	2. Li

Li

Li yawned as she sat looking out across the panda enclosure. Currently both her parents were in the office further down the path to her left talking to the keepers. In a few minutes Li would be joining them to go and see the pandas close up.

Li loved accompanying her parents on their trips round the world. It meant she could learn so much as well as see it first hand. Sometimes it meant breaking friendships, and even Li had to admit her education on things like maths probably wasn't the best, she'd been to that many schools, but Li didn't need maths. All she needed was her parents knowledge on animals and the world, and to keep up on her martial arts training. It irritated her sometimes that she didn't have close friends to go and have a gossip with, but she did have four very good friends in Alpha Force, and could always have a gossip with Amber over the internet.

The pandas weren't out yet. They were still inside their den. Li was going to help put the food out later before letting them outside before the guests arrived. She curled up her feet under her and gripped them, looking around her. Li loved zoos. Of course, she loved seeing animals in the wild even more, but zoos were only there to help the animals. True, they perhaps didn't need as much money as they did but letting guests in provided the care and attention they needed. Without zoos, most of the world's rarest species would be extinct. She'd been to her fair share of them too – zoos. In actuality Li preferred the smaller zoos personally. They just seemed so much more homely, but zoos like this one in Beijing were pretty amazing too, you could spend hours in them and never get bored.

"Li" Li looked up to the sound of her mother's voice. She was stood next to the bench looking at her daughter with a frown. Li looked up.

"Can we go in now?" she asked, getting up from the bench and grabbing her black jacket from next to her. Li's mother shook her head and instead sat down on the bench.

"Li, why on earth didn't you tell us?" Li frowned and raised her eyebrows.

"Tell you what?" She frowned again as her mum pushed her black hair back exasperatedly.

"About a certain little thing called Alpha Force?"

It hit Li like a bomb.

"Oh" she said quietly and sank back down onto the bench next to her mother.

"Oh indeed" her mother answered quietly. She reached out a hand and placed it on Li's arm. "Li it's not what you're doing that gets to me". Li looked up, trying to hold back the tears that pricked at her eyes.

"Really?" she whispered, barely wanting to believe it. If her mother didn't mind… her mother shook her head.

"God no Li, we know you can deal with this stuff. You're made for it" she sighed again "But it doesn't make it ok that you didn't tell us". Li looked away guiltily. She'd always imagined she trusted her parents more than anyone, but now. It all fell into perspective.

"Where's dad?" she murmured, once again staring down at her red shoes. Li's mum leaned back.

"He knows too Li, and he fells the same as me. We just thought it would be better if I tackled this one". Li frowned to her shoes.

"Tackled?" she sighed, bringing her head back up "Mum please. I love doing this. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but there's not much I can do about it now is there?" she was irritated. If her mum didn't mind her doing this stuff then why were they so angry? She did feel guilty she hadn't told them, and she did regret it but she didn't see how it warranted this.

"Li we're worried" her mother continued "We don't want you to be hiding things from us" Li cut across

"I won't-" Her mother smiled wanly

"You just did. Look Li, I'm not going to stop you from doing this. I think it's brilliant, but I think it would be nice if you kept me and your dad updated ok?" Li sighed to herself and started out across to the panda enclosure.

"They'll be wanting out" she murmured before looking to her mother.

"Sorry" she said, biting her lip "Really I am, I'll tell dad too". Her mother nodded.

"Thank you Li" standing up she herself looked across to the enclosure where Li could now see her father and the keeper, waiting "Your father and I just want you to trust us. We want you to tell us things Li, you're our daughter" she looked back to her daughter. Li merely nodded.

Satisfied the message had sunk in Li's mother smiled

"So, ready to meet the pandas?"


	3. Paulo

Paulo

Paulo awoke to the sounds of screaming outside. He sighed and turned over, burying his head into his pillows. Years of similar experiences had told him that the screaming outside was merely that of his younger sisters playing. Trouble was, most likely, nowhere to be seen.

After two more minutes of lying in his bed, Paulo was once again disturbed, albeit, this time it was rather more than screaming. His bedroom door burst opened and banged against the wall. Paulo sighed and turned over in bed ready to give the intruder a piece of his mind.

Stood in his doorway were his three younger sisters. They were all staring at him with expressions on their faces that ranged from amusement to curiosity to apprehension. Paulo frowned.

"What?" he sighed, wishing more than anything that it was a normal morning and he was still asleep. The eldest of his sisters, Emilia, smirked

"Mum wants to see you". Paulo frowned again

"Why?" his sister raised her eyebrows

"Beats me," she said, turning and dragging the two younger girls with her "But she looked really weird. Just got a phone call from someone in England." She tilted her head to the side; obviously amused with the entire situation "I would hurry if I were you. She didn't look like she was prepared to wait long" a grin followed. The two younger girls giggled behind their hands.

Paulo was annoyed; he hated it when his sisters acted like this. They always enjoyed seeing him in trouble. And Emilia was the worst Still fed up with the situation he grasped his pillow and threw it at the girls in the door, just as they managed to close it behind them as they skipped off down the hallway. Paulo cursed and sat up. He knew he'd have to go and find out what was going on, and he supposed it would be better to get it out of the way. He clambered out of bed and begun the task of trying to find a clean shirt.

Five minutes later, he was washed and dressed and heading downstairs to the sitting room. As he opened the door a fresh breeze hit him in the face from the open French windows. It was a lovely day. But Paulo didn't have time to dwell on the weather, all that was on his mind was what his mother wanted, and what had put her in such a strange mood.

He spotted his mother straight away. She was stood next to the open doors, her arms folded with an unreadable expression on her face.

"What is it?" Paulo asked tentatively. Behind his mother's back he could see his sisters, peering through the doors. They were pulling faces at him and laughing. Paulo ignored it and repeated his question.

It was strange, thought Paulo, his mother sighed and looked up to the ceiling before a large smile appeared on her face.

"What on Earth Paulo?" she asked still smiling. "Sometimes I can't believe you" and she burst out laughing. Paulo found the whole thing quite disturbing, and frowned across at his mother trying to work out what the hell was going on, something that so far was escaping him.

"Mother what is going on?" he asked again. But his mother, now overcome by a fit of laughter merely waved the question away and leant on the nearby armchair for support.

Paulo stood oblivious for a couple of seconds before noticing his sister's puzzled expressions. He grinned at them and pulled a face back. They all frowned back at him before Emilia, a look of annoyance on her face, jumped up and burst into the room.

"Mother what is going on?" she asked, marching up to her mum. The two younger girls followed and looked from Paulo to their mum, eyes wide with curiosity.

Paulo's mum looked to her daughters and a streak of calm crossed her face. Her laughter died down somewhat, but Paulo could tell she was still highly amused. He frowned at her as she looked at her children's' questioning looks.

Her eyebrows raised, Paulo's mum smiled as she spoke, looking to them all in turn.

"Paulo's in a team. A special team. He goes around helping people". She left it at that but it was all Paulo needed. How had his mother found out? She had got a phone call from England…he remembered dutifully. But it just confused him further, if his mother had found out about Alpha Force then why was she laughing. He looked back at her.

"You do not mind?" he asked, hardly daring to believe he'd get out of it. But the question seemed to set his mum off laughing again.

"Mind?" she asked between laughs "Paulo it's great, I just think it's funny!" By that time Paulo had had enough and shaking his head with disbelief he strode across the room towards the open doors as his mum, still laughing, wandered through to the kitchen.

As he stepped out into the sunshine he couldn't help but feel incredibly lucky. A smile broke out on his face. He had gotten away with it, his mother had even laughed about it. Now that he thought, it couldn't have gone any better.

A scuffle behind him broke him from his thoughts. Paulo turned. Stood in the doorway were his sisters, Emilia slightly drawn back from the other two, but apparently still wanting to be a part of what they wanted. Paulo's youngest sister stared up at him incredulously.

"Will you tell us about it?" she asked, wide eyed. Paulo grinned down at her before settling himself down on the patio.

"What shall I tell you first?" he asked glancing from one to another.

"Anything!" proclaimed his youngest sister again and Paulo smiled again.

"Ok" he said, settling back "How about the time when I drove the helicopter…"


	4. Hex

Hex

He knew something was wrong the minute he stepped into the house. And he knew it was going to be a bad evening. Everything seemed dull, the light wasn't on and an evening gloom had set in. It depressed Hex immediately and he knew something was going to happen. Something not so good.

And then it did happen. His mum came striding into the living room, hands on her hips, her face livid, and not far behind her was…

"Dad" Hex said staring up and him "Why're you here?" It wasn't a strange question to Hex, the fact of the matter was he hadn't seen his parents in the same room for months, and that something pretty big must have happened to bring them together. He hoped nothing had happened to anyone, Ben…

But his mum's face was covered with anger rather than anything else and she glared at him as he shut the door behind him, unzipping his tracksuit top.

"Hex how could you be so stupid?" she asked, her voice inexplicably raised. Hex was getting annoyed. He crossed his gaze to his dad who had his hands behind his back. Hex frowned.

"What mum? What's wrong? Why's dad here?" His dad stepped further into the room.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as if I weren't here Hex" he growled before straightening up and moving further forwards to stand next to Hex's mum. "Your mum did some investigating" he pulled his hands from behind his back.

Hex's stomach gave a jolt as his dad revealed his very own palmtop. Up on the screen was a Word document detailing information from Alpha Force's trip to Belize.

"No" he whispered. Why did this have to happen? He felt suddenly sick, coldness seeped up through him and a lump rose in his throat. "Why did you do it?" he asked again, raising his voice a little.

His mum snatched the palm top off his dad and held it out as she spoke

"Because I was sick of my son being so secretive Hex! You never talk, I think we have a right to know what's going on!"

"It doesn't give you the right to look in my personal stuff!" Hex found his voice rising unconsciously into a shout.

"Don't!" his dad shouted back "Don't think it's ok to shout at us Hex. You're being so stupid. Why are you doing this stuff?"

"Because it's what I want to do, it's what I enjoy!" Hex could feel himself getting more and more upset but he was determined not to let it show.

"How could you say you enjoy that sort off stuff Hex? Gallivanting about across deserts? It's stupid and dangerous and you didn't tell us anything!" Hex switched his glare to his mum.

"So? I enjoy it I just said! You always said you worried about me not having friends, well doing that stuff gives me them! I love doing that stuff with them!"

"I know" his mum replied stiffly. "I thought as much, and I assumed that their parents didn't understand the full extent of it either. So I thought it proper to give them all a call. Caught a man in America who tried to explain it all to me. I gave him a piece of my mind".

A wave of shock and sickness hit Hex.

"You did what?" he said hoarsely "How could you?"

"Don't" said his father from his mum's side "Don't argue Hex, I don't think it'd be a good idea do you? Those friends of yours were giving you silly ideas" Hex just shook his head incredulously.

"You've ruined everything," he said, trying to control his breathing "How am I ever going to talk to them now?"

"You think we're going to let you carry on with this?" his mum said loudly "Come off it Hex, you can't seriously think we're going to let you go gallivanting about the world anymore?"

"You can't!" Hex shouted back but his dad who had stepped forwards cut him short

"We just did" he said, staring down at Hex ferociously "And don't think about retaliating".

Hex did consider it for several seconds as the fury washed over him before turning and charging up the stairs across to his room. Just before his door slammed shut he caught a glimpse of Ben sat staring out of his own bedroom door, eyes wide, but he vanished as Hex's vision filled with the wood of his bedroom door. He flung himself onto his bed, seething with anger. He hated his parents for this, hated them. They'd ruined everything. He'd never be allowed to go on another trip; even if he was he doubted the rest of Alpha Force would ever speak to him again.

He instinctively reached out for his palmtop only to realise his mum still had it. He thumped the pillow again in frustration before reaching for his mobile from his bedside cabinet. He couldn't contact Amber or Li or Paulo without annoying his mum further with bills but he could phone Alex and hopefully try to get him to pass the message on.

The phone rang twice before Alex picked it up.

"Hex" he replied

"Alex I'm so sorry" Hex spoke quickly, wanting to get it over with "My mum just took my palmtop, I can't believe it".

"Hex it's ok I know" Hex frowned, how could Alex know?

"My mum said what happened. Yours obviously explained"

"Oh" said Hex quietly, he didn't know what else to say.

"It's not your fault Hex, you ok?" asked Alex down the phone.

"Not really" Hex replied, "My parents are giving me a hard time about it. What did yours say?" Alex chuckled

"They were worried more than anything. I think I nearly gave mum a heart attack." He paused before speaking again, his voice becoming more serious "It'll be ok Hex, we'll sort it out. Just don't blame yourself, it was bound to happen sooner or later".

"Spose" mumbled Hex, he was grateful for Alex's words, but couldn't get what his mum and dad had said out of his head. "Can you contact the others for me? I mean, Paulo and Li? My mum said she spoke to Amber's uncle and he tried to talk her round."

"Course I will" said Alex calmly "They'll understand Hex it's going to be ok you know"

"Thanks Alex" Hex replied. It felt good to hear his friend's voice, but somehow, now it felt like it was outlawed.

"It's fine" Alex answered "Call me if you need me Hex, we'll sort it out. We can't be Alpha Force without you". Hex grinned at that, and thanked Alex again before hanging up.

He laid the phone back on his bedside cabinet and laid back onto his bed. The burning feeling in the pit of his stomach was subsiding somewhat now, although he still felt horrible. What was he going to do?

There was a short rap at his door before it opened and his dad walked in.

"I'm returning this," he said simply, holding up Hex's palmtop before placing it down next to the mobile. His dad started to head out again but Hex sat up

"Please don't stop me from doing it". His dad stopped and turned.

"You should've told us Hex." Hex twisted his mouth

"I know but how could I? Look what happens?" His dad sighed and came and sat down on the end of Hex's bed.

"I've never heard your mum so distraught" he said "Well angry distraught anyway. The last time she saw fit to call me over was when you went on that boat trip and went missing. You know she doesn't call me over lightly. This really hit her Hex." Hex sighed

"I know. I know she wants to know what's going on but Alpha Force was special – is special. It wasn't something I could just out and say about". His dad raised his eyebrows

"I understand that but it was wrong Hex." Hex didn't know how to reply so he sank back and stared down at his duvet cover. After several seconds of silence he found the one thing he wanted to say, the only thing he could say.

"Please let me carry on". He looked up at his dad, staring at his, willing the only answer he wanted. A small smile twitched on his dad's lips as he stood up.

"We'll see".

As his dad left the room Hex grabbed his palmtop and started it up. A small smile crept onto his face. It wasn't a no.

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**A/N: This fic was edited since 15/04/08. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, it is much appreciated - Elle xx**


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